SOCHI SCENE: Repairing the ring

SOCHI, Russia – The Olympic rings will be whole again for the closing ceremony. That's a promise.

Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak tells R-Sport that fans will not see a repeat of the glitch that marred the opening ceremony when one of the five rings did not form from a snowflake floating in the sky.

"We will correct this mistake at the closing ceremony," Kozak told the news agency.

The glitch happened early in the opening ceremony, when snowflakes expanded to form the interlocking rings, which is one of the most anticipated moments of any Olympic opener. Four of the rings unfolded perfectly, but the fifth remained a snowflake before show organizers sent them out of sight.

The mistake was a shaky start to an otherwise well-received show that ended with hockey great Vladimir Tretiak and figure skating icon Irina Rodnina lighting the Olympic flame.

The closing ceremony is Sunday night.

— By Jon Krawczynski — Twitter http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski

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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu